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Justice News

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Western District of New York

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Iranian Man Charged in Fraudulent Scheme Involving Kodak Software

ROCHESTER, N.Y.-- U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Navid Salehvaziri, 32, of Tehran, Iran, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with devising a fraudulent scheme to sell pirated copies of sophisticated printing software owned by Kodak worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The defendant was arrested in Virginia, and appeared today before a United States Magistrate Judge in Virginia to answer the charge, which carries a maximum sentence 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Field, who is handling the case, stated that according to the complaint, Salehvaziri established a website, “KodakPrinergy.com,” to offer for sale unauthorized, pirated copies of Kodak Prinergy Evo software. The software contains proprietary “computer to plate” technology, and is used in commercial printing applications. In an undercover operation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arranged to purchase a copy of the software from the defendant for $1500. The software received by the FBI was not an authorized copy, and Kodak’s regular security and access control features were disabled. It was determined by Kodak to be a full-featured version of its Prinergy Evo technology worth approximately $345,000.

Salehvaziri was arrested in Virginia, and appeared today before a U.S. Magistrate Judge. The defendant will appear in Rochester Federal Court at a later date.

The criminal complaint is the culmination of an investigation by Special Agents of Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.